Golden Stair (12 page)

“If I might put forth a slice of humble advice,” the necromancer mused. “If there is a lady you fancy, and she fancies you back, then that may be something worth fighting for. Aphrodite has been known to bend the rules for lovers. If you could show her proof of your devotion, she may put on her magic girdle and seduce Hades himself to release the prince’s soul. Then the kingdom would be safe, the king and queen would have their son back, and you would be free to…well, if you did have a love interest in mind, you would be able to offer her fidelity.”

Adonis gaped and sputtered. “I am not in love.” Despite his denial, the necromancer’s words echoed in his head, tormenting him with false promise. “And there’s no way Aphrodite would step in with Hades. Even if Hades weren’t so immune to her charms, Persephone would have her gutted if she came near her husband. Especially after their little tiff over that human lover…” A vibration from somewhere inside the room shivered down Adonis’ spine. The hair on the back of his neck rose and he furrowed his brow, surveying his surroundings. “Did you feel that?”

The necromancer frowned, leaning back cautiously. “No.”

Another wave of vibrations slid over him, pulled him to the mirror lying on the necromancer’s work table. If the warm, honeyed aura he could feel tickling his subconscious was correct, he already knew who was calling him. He grabbed the slim handle and tapped the reflective surface, answering the magic with his own.

“Ivy, what a pleasant surprise.”

Ivy’s golden eyes widened comically and she dropped the length of braid she’d been worrying in her hands. “It worked.”

“The mirror?” Adonis asked in amusement.

“Yes. It was like you said, I thought about how much I wanted to see you, I laid my hand on the mirror, pictured you in my mind, and poof, there you were.”

Adonis smiled at the awe in her voice. He still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the concept of an elemental as obviously powerful as Ivy being impressed by a little mirror magic. Then again, the more he considered it, the more it shouldn’t surprise him how much Ivy’s mother had held back from her. Adonis had known some very protective parents—
very
protective parents—but Ivy’s mother took the cake.

“So you want to see me?” Adonis prodded.

The light in Ivy’s eyes dimmed, but only slightly. Part of Adonis waited for her to brush him off, to pretend she didn’t care one way or another. Surely she couldn’t really be as open as she seemed?

She met his eyes with a surprising calm. “If I did, would you come?”

Where? Back to her? Heat flared inside him as he remembered the feel of her body against his, the taste of her mouth, her skin. More than that, he remembered the wonder she’d greeted the astral plane with and the debilitating fear that had twisted the dream of his home world into a nightmare. For a moment he’d had the overwhelming urge to banish that terror, to hold her hand and show her the world, all of it. Her mother had tattooed the world with darkness, but Adonis knew he could change that. He could show her all the wonders that existed outside her tower and then they could paint together, capturing all the—

And that’s why he’d had to leave. Foolish urges like those would only hurt them both. He couldn’t see her again.

“Of course I would come.”

Right, so I’ve lost my wits completely then. Good to know.

Still, the blue sky was vacant. Where was he? The loose stone she’d been worrying with her finger finally gave up the ghost and popped out of its pit in the stone. A flick of her finger sent it rolling off the edge of the balcony and tumbling into the grass.
Roll little stone, roll.
Ivy stared after the pebble for several long moments before returning her attention to the afternoon sky.

“He said he’d come. He’ll come.” Her nerves danced with anticipation and she paced the tiny area of her balcony.
And what will you do when he gets here?
She halted.

“You’re so innocent it pains me.”

“Did you know that virgin energy is the most powerful energy of all for an incubus?”

“Until I can give you more, give you what a woman like you should have…then I should stop torturing us both.”

His words repeated on a loop, spinning around and around in her mind. He’d been trying to scare her, to intimidate her.
Well it won’t work.
She grasped the balcony and leaned out, letting herself pretend for a moment that she would jump over the edge, swing down to the ground, and run away never to return.

He could try to frighten her away all he wanted, but it was too late. Nothing made sense in her world any more. The desire to leave, the need to see the world had grown, climbing inside her like the magic beanstalk from an old fairy tale, until she couldn’t contain it anymore. Her mother had obviously lied to her. This valley couldn’t be the secret dimension she’d claimed it was, not if Adonis and that will o’ wisp had been able to enter. And Adonis certainly wasn’t the maniacal rapist her mother had colored him out to be.

No one is that good an actor.

And her powers. Her powers were perhaps the most damning evidence of all. Ivy examined her hands. With a thought, the normal golden hue of human-looking flesh became a blinding yellow-gold, so brilliant it was nearly white. Sunlight. Pure sunlight.

“I’m an elemental.”

The words still tasted strange on her tongue, felt weird to form. Her mother was a witch, not an elemental. And Dame Gothel had always claimed that Ivy’s father was a human, a human who had been killed by the king of Nysa, offered up as a sacrifice to the gods in the hopes of winning their favor for Nysa against the other kingdoms. Her mother had to be lying.

Ivy flexed her fingers, watching the play of light that flickered under her skin. She let the memory of what she’d done to Adonis that first day they’d met creep back into her mind. The shouts that had torn from his throat roared to life in painful clarity and she flinched. The smell of burning flesh had been stomach-turning and raw, the most primal horror of her life.

Yet, another one of her mother’s lies. Ivy was not weak, not vulnerable. She could heal
and
she could fight. Inch by inch, Ivy raised her gaze to the valley. She could leave this tower.

“Ivy, my Ivy, let down your hair,” Adonis shouted. “So that I may climb the golden stair!”

Jerking with surprise, Ivy dropped her gaze to the incubus staring up at her, a ridiculously large grin on his mischievous face. Even from this distance, she imagined she could see the mischief sparkling in his eyes.

Muffling a smile, she threw her hair over the iron hook and hefted the remaining coils of the braid over the balcony. “Don’t you feel the slightest bit ridiculous shouting that up at me?”

Adonis’ grin widened. “Not in the least. In fact, I’ll have you know that demons love double entendres.”

“Of course you do.” She gave him a once-over and her eyebrows shot up. “You’re wearing clothes!”

A deep chuckle rose from the incubus, twisting deliciously inside her until she had to hug herself to keep from reaching down for him. Adonis held out his arms and slowly turned around, showing off his finery. The crisp white tunic made his skin an even darker tan and clung to the muscles of his upper body in all manner of flattering ways. She bit back a sigh, studying the crimson sash fastened to the right shoulder of his tunic with a gold clasp and draped over the left side of his body. Biceps flexed as he lowered his arms, and Ivy had a vivid sensory memory of how those strong arms had felt wrapped around her, holding her against him without a sliver of daylight between them.

“You don’t have to say it,” he called up. “I know you prefer me naked.”

Ivy rolled her eyes.
Incorrigible
. It wasn’t until he finished climbing up her hair that she noticed the sack clutched in his teeth.

“What’s that?” she demanded, pointing to the bag as Adonis vaulted over the balcony.

“Tsk, tsk. Patience is a virtue, you know.”

She offered him nothing save a scowl, and he laughed. Deep and round. Like rich cocoa.
 

“Very well, you ungrateful wretch.” He tossed the bag. “Here.”

Ivy wasted no time in pulling it open. She held her breath as she knelt down and poured the contents onto the floor. Items of different sizes, shapes, and colors danced in front of her and she ran a hand over each one in turn.

“What are they?” she breathed.

Adonis picked one of the items up and held it in front of her. It was a pinkish white color, hard, with a slightly fishy smell. It had spikes on top, but when he turned it over, she could see a slick pink surface, so shiny it looked wet. “This is a sea shell,” he told her. “At one time, there was a little sea creature living in it, but now the creature has moved on.”

Ivy held her breath as she took it from him, running her fingers over the rigid surface before raising it to her nose to smell it. Fish and salt. Her mouth curved.
The ocean.

“Listen,” Adonis said.

He wrapped his hands around hers and raised the shell to her ear. Ocean waves sounded from inside the shell and Ivy’s eye widened into saucers. “I can hear the waves…”

The excitement never left Adonis’ face as he explained each item in turn. There were feathers from colorful birds, a small statue of the royal palace, a vial of sea water, and a bag of sweets.

At Adonis’ urging, Ivy unwrapped one of the candies and put it in her mouth.

“It’s a caramel,” he told her. He held his breath, as if waiting for her reaction.

Bliss
. The candy melted on her tongue, teasing her taste buds with a sweetness the likes of which she’d never experienced. Even honey was not as sweet as these perfect little treasures. Ivy moaned and closed her eyes, relishing the new flavor.

She opened her eyes. The hazel depths of Adonis’ eyes were glittering with specks of cinnamon, pulsing as if he thought he could devour her with his eyes. Belatedly she realized the caramels had elicited a more…excited response from her than was strictly appropriate for food. She cleared her throat as her cheeks threatened to spontaneously combust. She snatched the sea shell from the floor, clutching it like a lifeline as she studiously ignored Adonis.

Heat rushed between her legs with the delicious sensations that only Adonis brought her. She wasn’t ignorant of physical arousal and sexual matters—she had a great deal of knowledge about human anatomy and she was well-aware of her own body and the pleasure it was capable of. Still, no sensations she’d ever managed with her own hands could compare to what Adonis inspired just by looking at her.

He broke the stare, seeming to find sudden intense interest in the carpet. Ivy ignored the heat in her cheeks and dropped her gaze back to the wondrous items he’d brought her. They were all so wonderful, so much better than any pictures in a book. Especially the seashell with its scents and sounds. As much as she’d always known she wanted to go outside, to see what she was missing, she hadn’t really felt the weight of how much she was missing until just now. A tear slid down her cheek.

“Ivy, please don’t cry.”

Ivy looked up, not bothering to hide her face. There was no point, he’d already seen her weeping.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “These are lovely presents and it was kind of you to bring them to me.” She cradled the shell against her, wishing she could just close her eyes and let its sounds and scents take her away to the ocean.

“I’m afraid I had an ulterior motive,” Adonis admitted.

Ivy’s heart pounded, her brain nearly exploding with the force of all the ideas that leapt into her mind at that one innocent sentence. “What?” she asked hoarsely.

“I want you to leave the tower with me.”

Ivy shot to her feet, spilling her precious shell onto the rug as her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. “I can’t.” The words flew from her lips without her permission, paying no mind to the thoughts she’d been having mere moments ago. She wanted to leave the tower. She wanted to see the world. She wanted to spend more time with Adonis.
So why did you say that?

Adonis stood, leveling a gaze on her so passionate that she could feel it like a physical touch.

“You have been very distracting for me.”

His voice had grown deeper, less playful, more…intense. It was a tone of voice that reached deep inside her and plucked her nerves like violin strings. The butterflies that had leapt to life in her stomach at the mention of going outside now flew with increasing force. Ivy put a hand over her stomach and forced a smile. “Distracting?”

“Yes.”

He stepped forward, the sound of his clothes rustling deafeningly loud in the silence. Ivy had the odd thought that the clothes must be awfully stiff for as little use as they got. Her fingers twitched with the hysterical urge to reach out and touch them.

She stepped back. “I’m sorry?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what I did today?”

Nerves buzzing like a hive of angry bees, Ivy’s glance darted around the room. “Um, had sex with someone?”

Adonis froze and Ivy’s eyes widened. When had her mouth decided to stop consulting her brain?

“Does that bother you? The thought of me having sex with someone else?” He jabbed a finger in her direction, accusing somehow, as if her answer would confirm some damning evidence in a trial she wasn’t aware existed.

Ivy’s mouth opened and shut a few times before she found her voice. “I—no! Um, no, I…” She trailed off, raising a hand to her stomach. She summoned a memory of how Adonis had kissed her, the delicious sensation he’d brought to life in her body. The concept of him doing that with other women was…unpleasant.
Oh, Aphrodite, save me.

“Ah-ha! It does bother you,” Adonis accused, his muscled legs eating up more distance between them. “That’s what I mean. It bothers you and what’s more…I think it bothers
me
.”

“Having sex with other women bothers you?” Ivy bit her lip, trying to keep up with the conversation. For a wild moment, she had the thought that wearing clothes seemed to have a negative impact on Adonis’ sanity. Certainly the incubus made even less sense right now than he had on his previous visits. It probably wasn’t helping that she’d had almost zero experience with…well, conversations with people other than her mother. Sex had not been a popular topic.

“Yes,” Adonis growled. “I hadn’t considered it much before, but, yes, I think it does. I can’t quit thinking of you, Ivy. Beautiful maiden, trapped in a tower, wanting to see the world but too scared of her mother to try. It’s just not a situation that any red-blooded male could ignore, now is it?”

“Um…”

“I went to see a wizard today,” Adonis added. “And a necromancer. I don’t know why, the idea just came into my head this morning and I went. Asked perfect strangers if they could help me—help me
not have to need sex—
and told them about a situation that was none of their business.” He crossed his arms. “I’ll bet Kirill is twitching somewhere in
Dacia
and he has no idea why.”

“The vampire prince?”

Adonis nodded. “He would cringe at some of the things I did today. Things that sounded like a perfect idea when I woke up thinking of
you
.”

Ivy couldn’t help the sudden observation that Adonis was likely the type of man who often found himself acting on impulses as soon as he felt them.
Not a planner, that one.
His last statement finally sunk in and disappointment stabbed her in the gut.

“You don’t want to have sex?” She spoke before thinking of how it would sound, but she didn’t even care.
The conversation has already exceeded the wildest limits of propriety, no sense beating around the bush now.